Image, courtesy of the artist: Velvet Communion, 2024, velvet, plaster, wire, wood, broken china, fabric, mussel shells, fresh water pearls, gold and glass beads, pistachio shell, gold leaf, paper clay, rice, 4’9” x 2’8” x 3”
Solo exhibition featuring works by Dana Lynn Harper.
May 12 – August 22, 2025
In a new body of work exploring the windows and barriers between herself and her family history, Ohio-based artist Dana Lynn Harper combines the evocative textures of paper clay, velvet, rice, pearls, dried flowers and masses of glass beads to create artworks with so much to see, if we look closely. Arising from Harper’s attempts to reclaim the cultures of her ancestors, the works are expressions of the gulf between experiential knowing, and what we can learn about faraway origins across time and place through ancient cultural practices and Internet scrolling.
Artist Lecture & Closing Reception:
When
Wednesday, August 20, 2025
5:00 – 7:00 pm CDT
Where
Artist Lecture: 005 Biggin Hall
Reception: Biggin Gallery, 101 Biggin Hall
This event is free and open to the public. 005 Biggin Hall and Biggin Gallery are handicap accessible.
About the Artist
Columbus, Ohio-based artist Dana Lynn Harper holds a BFA in Art & Technology from The Ohio State University (2009), and received her MFA from Penn State University (2013), where she was awarded the Bunton-Waller Fellowship. She has been the recipient of an ArtPrize Artist Seed Grant, the ArtFile Magazine Emerging Artist Grant, a Ringholz Foundation Award, an Ohio Arts Council Professional Award, and the Manifest Grand Jury Prize. She has presented solo exhibitions across the US, most notably at Sculpture Center (Cleveland, OH), the University of Kentucky, Front/Space Gallery (Kansas City, MO), Manifest Gallery (Cincinnati, OH), and ROY G BIV Gallery (Columbus, OH). She has also made public installations in collaboration with the Columbus Museum of Art (OH), Otherworld (Columbus, OH), and Wonderspaces (Scottsdale, AZ). Harper was an Artist-in-Residence at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, Teton Artlab (Victor, ID), Bunker Projects (Pittsburgh, PA), Sculpture Space (Utica, NY), and ArtSpace Raleigh (NC). In 2015, she was awarded a scholarship from the NEA to attend Women’s Studio Workshop, and in 2022 she received a fellowship from Vermont Studio Center. Most recently, Harper received a 2025 Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award.